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Monday, July 01, 2013

This business in Hollywood was given funds by District 4. It was awarded a Miami-Dade Mom & Pop Grant in 2009-10 cycle. It is in Broward County. I saw other Broward County grants.

Instead of funding the $1.6 Billion dollars of sewer repairs first and foremost, the County thinks up all sorts of ways to waste your money. Are we throwing OUR tax money away on these Miami Dade County Mom and Pop Grants? I took a quick look and I think we need an audit!

The Miami Dade County Commissioners always want to dump EVEN more of our tax dollars into these grants and I say STOP! Audit first. If a third of them are out of business -- and I suspect they are, if we combine all the Commission Districts -- we aren't building the economy, we are throwing money down the drain. The majority that are still in business since 2009 are professionals that hardly need our tax dollars. A law firm is not "Mom and Pop." After a while I saw some trends. Whole shopping centers applied for these Mom & Pop Grants. Accountants, Doctors, Engineers, Law offices and other professionals were still in business while businesses with silly names like "Kulture Klothes by Isis" were out. Actually Kulture has been defunct since 2000. How did they get a grant in 2009?

In District 2 I looked up 32 Companies in business in 2009 that got Mom and Pop grants. Out of 32, 14 appear to be defunct. That is almost half. In District 3 I found 11 out of 22 (I couldn't find 2 companies listed) out of business.

In District 6 out of the 23 I looked at from the 2009-10 list, only 3 were defunct but they awarded a startling 102 grants in that district. I only looked at a quarter of them.

In some commission districts nearly half the Mom and Pop grants awarded in the 2009–2010 cycle were awarded to businesses that are now listed as defunct by the State of Florida. Here is a list of all the grants for 2009-10:

I was surprised at how many Corporate names I could not find on Sunbiz, I am beginning to think there is something wrong with their website or the County records supplied to me.

My research is not an audit it is a snapshot, numbers are probably off as names were supplied to me by Miami Dade County and they could be inaccurate.

Especially in districts 7, 8, 9, I could not find many listed on Sunbiz (the Business registration website). What I did was copy the name the county supplied and pasted it in Sunbiz's search (no typos on my part). Someone at the County should be making sure the correct name is listed that matches Sunbiz's records. Here are my results for Districts 7, 8 and 9:

Sunbiz records on Ma & PA for District 7 (2009-1010) (As you can see the professionals are still in business, but should we be giving them money?)

"The Mom and Pop Small Business Grant Program was created to provide financial and technical assistance to qualified for-profit small businesses that are approved for funding. This program has allowed small owned and operated businesses the opportunity to interact with local government under favorable conditions, and this relationship will ultimately bridge the gap between the two entities.

30 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I do find it odd that commissioners always want more money for this fund. They even wanted to put the money for the Dolphins election in it. I too call for an audit. Why are we subsidizing professional offices and wasting money on failing businesses. As usual , no oversight.

Look at District 8, Royal Palm Real Estate Services, LLC. Isn't this the entity tied to the scandal between Mayor and Mrs. Bateman and Ernesto Perez of Dade Medical ? If so, this is where Mrs Mayor Bateman has her real estate license parked and is receiving commissions on the sale of City of Homestead real estate to Dade Medical. See Jim Defede tonight at 11 on Channel 4.

Wow, you did a lot of research. I too call for an audit. Better yet dump the program. Come on Mr. Mayor I would call this a boondoggle . They are giving to professionals? Why? I bet you can trace campaign contributions back to them.

A better way to help small businesses would be to have an various county agencies help small businesses get permits and licenses along with advice as to how to take advantage of groups that help small businesses grow. Giving money directly to a small business seems to be the wrong approach, it appears to be political handouts instead.Some of the businesses on the long lists are suspect, especially Broward based, law, accounting, engineering, professional groups etc.This program should stop, other than creating political patronage, it is a total waste of taxpayer money.

You have to expect a failure rate on new businesses but by some of the names, they didn't seem viable in the first place. The question is, what is a reasonable failure rate in 3 years. Without the professionals it might be near half and that is too much. They need to scrutinize what they are doing. An audit isn't a bad idea.

This is wrong and definitely deserves an audit as well as a revising of eligibility requirements.But a little surprised people are jumping on the 'professionals.' Simply because an accountant or lawyer or vet doesn't mean that they have the funds to open a new business. And each vet usually requires at least a receptionist and 1-2 techs, each accountant usually has 1-2 jr associates in office, attorneys a receptionist/assistant.It takes money to start those businesses too.And those businesses do bring customers to an area.

In the City of Miami there is a guy who makes $200,000+ per year handing out Mom and Pop checks.Almost every recipient is a fake "kitchen table" type business. Wow. The sense of entitlement is overwhelming.

Why would Dade County money be going to Broward County businesses? Can a business be funded which is not even registered with the state as a legal entity? If a business is not registered with the state, how can it have a bank account? A federal tax ID number? Can you just make up a company in your mind, and ask and get funding from the County? Does money go from the County directly into people's personal bank accounts?What is the criteria for getting these funds? Are business licenses required? Business plans? Financial plans? Are they loans that have to be paid back? Orare they grants? If they are gifts/grants, has anyone investigated the possibility of kick-backs? Who monitors what the money is used for? If they are loans, how many have paid back their loans? Where are the success stories? Are there success failure rates? How were the successful ones successful? What were the problem areas for the failures? Based on history, what is the probability the new people getting money will fail?

Other than the money, exactly what assistance has been given to help them be successful? Classes, tutorials, mentors, one-on- one counseling, needs assessment, business plan assistance? Linkages with colleges and universities, retired business people, internships in successful businesses? What?

It is very simple, grants are being used to buy votes and favors and to pad Commissioners' resumes. If you are not personally favored you won't get a penny, guaranteed. There are convicted tax evaders who are receiving grants in Miami. Don't only audit, add oversight on these sorts of tax spending.

the fulltime salary for steve rothaus is not the only evidence of misplaced priorities at the herald. look at the money wasted on leonard pitts, the herald's race-baiting, baltimore-based columnist who doesn't write about south florida. the herald not only pays pitts a boatload, according to the former ombudsperson, they also pay the salary for a fulltime administrative assistant whose only job is to support pitts and dave barry who retired and hasn't written a column in over eight years ago. wouldn't those funds be better spent on some investigative reporters?

The Herald desperately needs 3-4 full-time investigative journalists. At least the Herald could assign a reporter to follow up on all the scandals uncovered by Al Crespo. Al Crespo evens prints the documents.

Quotes hall of fame - worth another look:

Jonathon Dunlop of Australia about the Miami Airport:"This is the most disorganized shambles of an airport that exists on this earth.''April 01, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment on Post__________________________________On "Colony Collapse Disorder":Anonymous said...I say lets wait till the last tree is going to be cut down, the last bit of oil used, the last lowland coastal areas flooded before we make any rash decisions that might effect the economy.April 21, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On Bee “Colony Collapse Disorder” being blamed on cell phones:Anonymous said...Hmmm. What are bees doing with cell phones, anyhow?April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On South Florida Water Supply:Ron Littlepage said...Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment Post_________________________________Lesley Blackner said:In Florida, the sad reality is that government exists to serve the development machine, not the citizenry. That's why it's proper to say that in Florida we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer.April 22, 2007 Eye on Miami Post_________________________________On City of Miami and Miami Dade County giving $1,000,000 each to Jorge Perez’s Related Group (The Group's 2005 revenues were $3.25 billion.):"It makes as much sense as me donating half my paycheck to Warren Buffett.”May 6, 2007 Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menendez_________________________________On the FCAT Test:"'Florida is a serial mis-user of test scores.''Bob Schaeffer, director for Massachusetts-based FairTest.May 25, 2007 Miami Herald_________________________________Clifford Schulman (Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist):"This is the first time in 33 years that any one has accused me of fraud." June 28, 2007 Miami HeraldI say: hmm.__________________________________Max Rameau, Homeless Activist:"I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust, but the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.'' July 28, 2007 Miami Herald__________________________________"After years of mismanagement under a board of political appointees and neighborhood activists, Miami-Dade County administrators have proposed a new way to run the troubled empowerment zone program. The plan: Bring in new political appointees and neighborhood activists."November 6, 2007 Miami Herald: Reporter Scott Hiaasen______________________________________"Saying "Greater Everglades" and "Northern Everglades" is not saying Everglades -- other places are deserving of being protected too, but there is only one Everglades. The main thing is to keep the 'Main Thing' the main thing -- which, lately, has not been the main thing." Bob Mooney - on Listserve "Everglades Commons"________________________________________"Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption."Carl Hiaasen - March 16, 2008 Miami Herald_______________________________________On the Charter Review: "Commissioners want us to vote on their own pet changes, ideas the review team explicitly rejected. And, they're throwing their blatantly self-serving ballot questions at us at the same time. What a slap in the face to the charter review team — and to all of us!" Michael Lewis of Miami Today - April 10, 2008______________________________________On the Miami Dade County Commission:''Unfortunately, this is a commission that would build a cyanide factory next to a playground if you hired the right 12 lobbyists,'' Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi - May 14, 2008______________________________________"The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities." President Barack Obama in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009______________________________________"So."Dick Cheney's response when told that two thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. - Time Magazine 2008______________________________________"It seems like a bad idea can always find a home in the Florida Legislature." - Howard Simon - Executive Director of Florida ACLU - March 24, 2010

______________________________________Complete this sentence: South Florida really needs a..."Regional plan for controlled growth (before it becomes a concrete jungle similar to Houston), and a completely new set of elected officials that make decisions based on what's good for the future of South Florida instead of what's good for their wallets. - Jack McCabe, Real Estate expert who predicted the housing boom's end. - August 29, 2011 Miami Herald